(a) Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a display device and a driving method thereof, and more particularly to a display device capable of reducing power consumption and preventing flicker, as well as a driving method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Currently, display devices find wide use in applications such as computer monitors, televisions, mobile phones, and the like. Typical display devices include a cathode ray tube display device, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display device, and the like.
The display device commonly includes a graphic processing unit (GPU), a display panel, and a signal controller. The graphic processing unit transmits image data to the signal controller, and the signal controller generates a control signal for driving the display panel to transmit the control signal together with the image data to the display panel, thereby driving the display device.
Images displayed on the display panel can be categorized as either still images or motion pictures. The display panel typically displays several frames per second and, if image data included in frames are the same as each other, a still image is displayed. Conversely, if image data frames are different from each other, a motion picture is displayed.
In this case, since the signal controller receives the same image data from the graphic processing unit every frame whether a motion picture or a still image is displayed, it can be considered that more power is consumed than is sometimes necessary.
Recently, efforts have been made to reduce display power consumption. In one such effort, the image data of a still image is stored in a frame memory which provides the image to the display panel during the duration in which the still image is to be displayed. This method is called Panel Self Refresh (PSR) mode, and since the image data does not need to be received from the graphic processing unit while displaying the still image, the graphic processing unit is deactivated, thereby reducing power consumption.
However, PSR mode has drawbacks. In particular, the addition of a frame memory increases power consumption.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information not in the prior art.